fandomhigh | Ethics [Thursday, October 27, 2016]

Today's Ethics class was outside. In the preserve, which was a huge step up from a desert, if you asked Anakin.

Yes, well. Which one of them had spent time in a desert lately? Either way, Obi-Wan was there, looking only... slightly tense. "We believed that perhaps it was time to remind ourselves of the spirit of charitable giving," he said, "Ethics, after all, is not simply about theory."

"And," said an unexpected addition to the teaching group today, "that's why I'm here today." Kanan grinned easily as he shrugged his shoulders. That jack-of-all-trades thing came in handy sometimes. "As you can probably tell from the chill that's starting to settle into the air, it's coming on wintertime, and some of the island's residents... frankly, are too dumb to come in from the cold. So-" he held up a handful of printouts of plans for simple livestock shelters, "we're going to build a bunch of smaller versions of these. And then we're going to wallpaper the insides with bad, preachy fanfiction from the internet. For the teal deer."

Apparently they liked that sort of thing? Kanan was just going to roll with it.

Anakin stared at Kanan. "The deer read fanfiction."

Kanan just shot Anakin a grin. "The deer like words. The fanfiction was just convenient."

"I do not," Obi-Wan said, "Want to know what manner of fanfiction it is."

He and Anakin had experiences. Experiences.

Anakin shuddered slightly. "Me either. Pair up, if you'd like, and build the teal deer some shelter. I recommend speaking briefly if you don't want them to harass you."

"Then I won't tell you," Kanan said cheerfully, and then he motioned to a pile of tools and building supplies. "Everything you need is over there. If you have any questions, I've built one or two of these things in my time. Or you can just enjoy the fine reading materials that have been provided, but we'll probably judge you for it."

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Peridot loved building things. She really did. But when she realized that the deer shelter didn't have automatic doors or crystalline staircases, some of the magic was sucked out of the project.

So she let herself get distracted by the 'fan fiction' that was meant to be one of the building supplies as she attempted to prop up one of the walls that it was stapled to. She was a little small to be any good with the wall, but trying to puzzle out what those parts of human anatomy were or what their purpose might possibly be was giving her incentive to keep on trying.

It was an educational exercise.

"This is very bad literature," Lucille felt the need to inform Peridot. "You will find much better in the library."

She was reading it herself with some interest though. This made clear what Professor Anakin had been talking about last week, when he had been worried about stories being written about him.

Peridot blinked and tilted her head, her little feet struggling to find purchase in the leaves while she held up that wall segment.

She needed to know how that paragraph ended!

"... They have better? Does it make more sense?"

"Yes," Lucille assured her, although this being Peridot it was hard to know. "It is also often about matters other than... pleasures of a certain kind."

Lucille, you really had to know that this question was coming, by now.

"... Which kind is that?"

It wasn't always easy for a 19th century girl to explain things to a gem. She decided that now was the time to be blunt.

"Sex. Which isn't a topic only found in this kind of writing of course."

[And reading this on my computer instead of on my phone I realize it's not that clear that Lucille is referring to fan fiction here and not "good literature". I confuse myself and Peridot.]

Edited 2016-10-27 17:46 (UTC)

Peridot was staring up at Lucille, now, with wide eyes. She was processing.

"... That's the thing that humans often do because it's fun, even though it's intended to create more of your species?"

She was learning. Slowly. She looked back at the pages she'd been reading.

"That's how it works?!"

EW. EW. EW. EW. EW. EW.

"Well," Lucille said, doing her best not to be a 19th century girl. "Many of the things described there will not result in babies. There has to be..." And here she trailed off, looking uncomfortable.

Peridot looked expectantly at Lucille, still struggling with that wall.

This would be so much easier with her limb enhancers.

"... There has to be...?"

She was never going to know. It was never going to happen.

Lucille took a deep breath, then lowered her voice so that no one else could hear.

"A man puts his... inside a woman's... and there has to be... bodily fluids. Semen. Egg."

Lucille was unaware of the other possibilities offered by the multiverse (and fan fiction) as well as a less binary view of gender and a less androcentric explanation. She was after all from the 19th century, even if her knowledge about this mostly came from books in the library.

Peridot was mostly just staring blankly, now.

"... Everything is about fluids with your species, isn't it?"

In the wake of a long string of unfinished sentences, that was the point she was going to zero in on, yes.

Now that wasn't quite true. "No," Lucille said. "You ought to read a book about this. It's really not a topic most people appreciate talking about in public." She had made an effort here.

"But it's plastered all over this wall," Peridot protested, giving her arms a shake. The wall segment she was still holding up rattled. "I don't understand why it has all of you humans so flustered."

It was all of the embarrassing fluids, wasn't it? It had to be.

"It is private," Lucille explained, now looking very much flustered. "It shouldn't be plastered on walls." She was still speaking in a low voice. "And some of this is not possible at all." Or so she thought. "Unless your body is very strangely put together.

Peridot really should get a book. With proper medical illustrations. Which might not be less disturbing.

Peridot had gotten a book! But she'd put it down in disgust and confusion when the narrative started talking about rippling pectoral muscles. She had never in her time on Earth seen a human's pecs ripple, and was at least marginally certain that their musculature didn't actually allow for that.

"Your species eats, sleeps, and starts life as a tiny..." She gestured with her hands, which left the wall panel falling in the other direction. "... Strange little larval version of yourselves. Your bodies already are strangely put together."

She had no idea where the fact and the fiction were divided!

Lucille could accept that human bodies were strange to Peridot, but there was a difference. "Some things only happen in books! We suspend disbelief, but when it is bad we can't do that." Which wasn't quite true, no.

"So.... what constitutes it being bad?"

Was it the rippling? Peridot was pretty sure it had something to do with things rippling.

Lucille hadn't read about the rippling yet.

"Many things. For example: bad metaphors." Did Peridot know what metaphors was? "That is, if you compare something to something else and it doesn't make sense. In the case of these," she gestured at the papers lining the walls, "there is also the fact that there is no plot. Only... sex. There should be a story."

Ethics [Thursday, October 27, 2016]

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